TENDER FILE / TERMS OF REFERENCE

(Competitive bidding procedure / Framework Contract)

Purchase of services of proofreading and editing of texts in Ukrainian for 4 projects of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine

In the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine“Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026, the Council of Europe is currently implementing the projects “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV”, “Protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and ensuring child-friendly justice”, “Facilitating access to human rights and essential services for IDPs and returnees at the community level” and “Towards More Humane Detention Conditions and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine (DECOPRIS)” (hereinafter referred to as Projects). In that context, it is looking for Providers (see below) for the provision of services in the area of preparation of publications to be requested by the Council on an as-needed basis.

A.    TENDER RULES

This tender procedure is a competitive bidding procedure. In accordance with Rule 1395 of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe[1], the Organisation shall invite to tender at least three potential providers for any purchase between €2,000 (or €6,000 for intellectual services) and €171,000 tax exclusive.

This specific tender procedure aims at concluding a framework contract for the provision of deliverables described in the Act of Engagement (See attached). A tender is considered valid for 180 calendar days as from the closing date for submission. The selection of tenderers will be made in the light of the criteria indicated below. All tenderers will be informed in writing of the outcome of the procedure.

The tenderer must be either a natural person, a legal person or consortia of legal and/or natural persons.

Tenders shall be submitted by email only (with attachments) to the email address indicated in the table below, with the following reference in subject: Tender_00905/2025/4_Proofreading_Editing. Tenders addressed to another email address will be rejected.

The general information and contact details for this procedure are indicated on this page. You are invited to use the CoE Contact details indicated below for any question you may have. All questions shall be submitted at least 5 (five) working days before the deadline for submission of the tenders and shall be exclusively addressed to the email address indicated below with the following reference in subject: Questions – Tender_00905/2025/4_Proofreading_Editing.

Type of contract

Framework contract

Duration

Until 31 December 2026

Deadline for submission of tenders/offers

07 September 2025 23h59 Kyiv time

Email for submission of tenders/offers

[email protected]

Email for questions

[email protected]

Expected starting date of execution

01 October 2025


B.    EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

Background of the Project

In the framework of the Council of Europe Action Plan for Ukraine “Resilience, Recovery and Reconstruction” 2023-2026, the Council of Europe is currently implementing the projects “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV”, “Protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and ensuring child-friendly justice”, “Facilitating access to human rights and essential services for IDPs and returnees at the community level” and “Towards More Humane Detention Conditions and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine (DECOPRIS)” (hereinafter referred to as Projects). In that context, it is looking for Providers (see below) for the provision of services in the area of preparation of publications to be requested by the Council on an as-needed basis.

The Project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine: Phase IV” is built on the results and experience of the Council of Europe project “Youth for Democracy in Ukraine” in 2020-2024. The project aims to ensure that young people in Ukraine benefit from participatory youth policies and quality youth work to strengthen their own resilience and well-being in order to realise their human rights in wartime and post-war times and play an important role in Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts.

Central to the project are support measures and capacity-building activities in the fields of youth policy, youth work, and democratic participation in Ukraine. These efforts are based on Council of Europe youth sector standards and tools and take into account the specific needs of young people in war and post-war context.

The Project “Protecting the rights of Ukrainian children and ensuring child-friendly justice” aims to protect and promote children’s rights, in view of the particular risks generated by the conflict. This includes risks for displaced children, children without parental care, unaccompanied children, child victims or witnesses of violence, in line with Council of Europe standards. It focuses on enhancing the effectiveness of frameworks aimed at child friendly settings and procedures for investigation, as well as improving capacities of multiple professional target groups working with children.

The Project is a direct follow-up of the previous Council of Europe projects “Combating violence against women and children” (2017-2018), “Combating violence against children in Ukraine, Phase II” (2020-2021), “Combating violence against children in Ukraine, Phase III” (2022), and “Protecting the rights of Ukrainian children during and in post-war context” (2023-2024).

The Project “Facilitating access to human rights and essential services for IDPs and returnees at the community level”. The project aims at facilitating access to human rights and essential services for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and returnees at the community level by supporting the development and advancement relevant of policies and practices, enhancing the capacities of displaced institutions and empowering civil society organisations to address displacement-related needs in host communities.

The Project “Towards More Humane Detention Conditions and Reduced Reoffending in Ukraine (DECOPRIS)” aims to enhance the protection of prisoners’ rights by improving prison management practices and advancing rehabilitation efforts.

The expected deliverables are described in Section A of the Act of Engagement (see attached).

The total amount of the object of present tender shall not exceed 171,000 Euros tax exclusivefor the whole duration of the Framework Contract. This information does not constitute any sort of contractual commitment or obligation on the part of the Council of Europe.

Scope of the Framework Contract

Throughout the duration of the Framework Contract, pre-selected Providers may be asked to carry out proofreading and editing of texts in Ukrainian (see Section A – Terms of Reference in the Act of Engagement). This deliverable is part of an exhaustive list of services. The texts to be edited may include, but are not limited to, educational resources (such as manuals, guidelines, and online educational tools) as well as other types of texts, including articles, public documents, and informational materials. The service includes literary, stylistic, semantic, and technical editing: checking spelling, punctuation, word usage; verifying the logic, accuracy, and appropriateness of statements; font type, size, and style; line spacing and paragraph indents; removal of double spaces; unification of quotation marks, dashes, and hyphens; and formatting of tables, reference lists, etc. The final text complies with the current Ukrainian language norms, including non-sexist language standards, and is ready for layout. The service includes integrating feedback and improvements through up to 5 rounds of corrections.

In addition to the orders requested on an as needed basis, the Provider shall keep regular communication with the Council to ensure continuing exchange of information relevant to the projects implementation. This involves, among others, to inform the Council as soon as it becomes aware, during the execution of the Contract, of any initiatives and/or adopted laws and regulations, policies, strategies or action plans or any other development related to the object of the Contract (see more on general obligations of the Provider in Article 3.1.2 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

Unless otherwise agreed with the Council, written documents produced by the Provider shall be in English (see more on requirements for written documents in Articles 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 of the Legal Conditions in the Act of Engagement).

C.    FEES

Tenderers are invited to indicate their fees, by completing and sending the table of fees, as attached in Section A to the Act of Engagement. These fees are final and not subject to review.

The Council will indicate on each Order Form (see Section D below) the number of units ordered, calculated on the basis of the unit fees, as agreed by this Contract.

D.    HOW WILL THIS FRAMEWORK CONTRACT WORK? (Ordering PROCEDURE)

Once the selection procedure is completed, you will be informed accordingly. Deliverables will then be delivered on the basis of Order Forms submitted by the Council to the selected Provider (s), by post or electronically, on an as needed basis (there is therefore no obligation to order on the part of the Council).

Pooling

For each Order, the Council will choose from the pool of pre-selected tenderers the Provider who demonstrably offers best value for money for its requirement when assessed – for the Order concerned – against the criteria of: 

-          quality (including as appropriate: capability, expertise, past performance, availability of resources and proposed methods of undertaking the work);

-          availability (including, without limitation, capacity to meet required deadlines and, where relevant, geographical location); and

-          price.

Each time an Order Form is sent, the selected Provider undertakes to take all the necessary measures to send it signed to the Council within 2 (two) working days after its reception. If a Provider is unable to take an Order or if no reply is given on his behalf within that deadline, the Council of Europe may call on another Provider using the same criteria, and so on until a suitable Provider is contracted.

Providers subject to VAT

The Provider, if subject to VAT, shall also send, together with each signed Form, a quote[2] (Pro Forma invoice) in line with the indications specified on each Order Form, and including:

-          the Service Provider’s name and address;

-          its VAT number;

-          the full list of services;

-          the fee per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-          the total amount per type of deliverables (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement, tax exclusive);

-          the total amount (in the currency indicated on the Act of Engagement), tax exclusive, the applicable VAT rate, the amount of VAT and the amount VAT inclusive.

Signature of orders

An Order Form is considered to be legally binding when the Order, signed by the Provider, is approved by the Council of Europe, by displaying a Council’s Purchase Order number on the Order, as well as by signing and stamping the Order concerned. Copy of each approved Order Form shall be sent to the Provider, to the extent possible on the day of its signature.


Delivery

Each deliverable has to be accompanied by the filled-out AI tool checklist which is appended to this document.

E.     ASSESSMENT

Exclusion criteria and absence of conflict of interests

(by signing the Act of Engagement, you declare on your honour not being in any of the below situations)[3]

Tenderers shall be excluded from participating in the tender procedure if they:

-          have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, child labour or trafficking in human beings;

-          are in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or are subject to a procedure of the same kind;

-          have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct;

-          do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence;

-          are an entity created to circumvent tax, social or other legal obligations (empty shell company), have ever created or are in the process of creation of such an entity;

-          have been involved in mismanagement of the Council of Europe funds or public funds;

-          are or appear to be in a situation of conflict of interest;

-          are retired Council of Europe staff members or are staff members having benefitted from an early departure scheme;

-          are currently employed by the Council of Europe or were employed by the Council of Europe on the date of the launch of the procurement procedure;

-          have not fulfilled, in the previous three years, their contractual obligations in the performance of a contract concluded with the Council of Europe leading to a total or partial refusal of payment and/or termination of the contract by the Council of Europe;

-          are subject to restrictive measures applied by the United Nations Security Council or the European Union. In the case of legal persons, the restrictive measures imposed on the tenderer’s owner(s) or executives will also exclude the tenderer from participating in this tender procedure.

Eligibility criteria

The eligibility criteria determine the conditions for participating in a procurement procedure and define the essential requirements that each bidder must comply with. Bidders shall demonstrate that they fulfil the following criteria:

Eligibility criteria

Document/s to be submitted

Education: University degree in one of the following fields: philology, journalism, translation, or other relevant humanities fields.

A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format.

Work experience: At least three years of proven experience in proofreading and editing texts in Ukrainian, including educational materials, public documents, and informational content.

A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format.

Specific thematic expertise: Demonstrated experience in applying current Ukrainian spelling norms and gender-sensitive (non-sexist) language standards.

A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format.

Language skills: Proficient level of Ukrainian (C2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), basic level of English (A1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).

A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format;

Proof of language proficiency in Ukrainian (C2 level or equivalent), if not clearly evidenced in the CV or education.

The above eligibility criteria will be assessed on the basis of the documents listed in the table and, where relevant, on the basis of other supporting documents listed in Section G.

For legal persons only: legal persons are requested to include in their bids the profiles of a maximum of 3 natural persons proposed to be assigned to the contract. The status of each natural person included in the bid must be specified, and in particular whether they are employees or subcontractors. Each natural person included in the bid will be assessed against the above eligibility criteria. The Council reserves the right not to accept the inclusion in the contract of persons who do not meet the eligibility criteria or to reject a bid entirely if no profiles met the eligibility criteria.[4]

For consortia only: each consortium member will be assessed against the eligibility criteria above. Consortium members who are legal persons are requested to provide the profiles of a maximum of 3 natural persons proposed to be assigned to the contract. The status of each natural person included in the bid must be specified, and in particular whether they are employees or subcontractors.

Each natural person included in the bid submitted by a consortium – whether as an individual consortium member or as a natural person attached to a legal person – will be assessed against the above eligibility criteria. The Council reserves the right not to accept the inclusion in the contract of persons who do not meet the eligibility criteria or to reject a bid entirely if no profiles meet the eligibility criteria.[5] 

Award criteria

The award criteria aim at assessing the quality of a bidin order to identify the bid/s offering the best value for money. Eligible bids will be assessed against the following award criteria:

Award criteria

Document/s to be submitted

Quality of the offer (70 points), including:

-           Professional experience in the fields of proofreading and editing of texts in Ukrainian, including in the main topics related to the Projects in the field of international and European standards on democracy, human rights, rule of law, etc (40 points);

-           Professional experience in the fields of proofreading and editing of various texts in Ukrainian for different types of publications (legislative documents, practical manuals/guidelines/books/case study for professionals, information leaflets, raising awareness materials) for different target groups (30 points).

A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format;

Portfolio or at least 2 examples of previous work;

A list of 3 (three) referees' contact details (name surname, job title, phone number, email);

Proof of language proficiency in Ukrainian (C2 level or equivalent), if not clearly evidenced in the CV or education;

A cover letter.

Financial offer (30 points).

Completed and signed Act of Engagement.

The above award criteria will be assessed based on the bidder’s capacity, as outlined in the supporting document, or on the basis of a consolidated assessment of the combined capacity of all eligible profiles or consortium members if the bid is submitted by a legal person or a consortium.

Additional rules applicable to the submission and assessment of the bids

The bidders’ attention is drawn to the following additional rules governing the assessment of the bids:

-          The Council reserves the right to hold interviews with prima facie eligible tenderers;

-          Unless expressily provided otherwise in the tender documents, a bidder may not submit more than one bid for the same procurement procedure;

-          In the same procurement procedure,  natural person may not submit a bid on his/her own behalf and, at the same time, be included in a bid submitted by a legal person or a consortium. In such cases, the Council of Europe reserves the right to exclude the bid submitted by the natural person from the procurement procedure;

-          In the same procurement procedure, a legal person may not submit a bid and, at the same time, be a member of a consortium also bidding under the same procurement procedure. In such cases, the Council of Europe reserves the right to exclude the bid submitted by the legal person from the procurement procedure.

F.     NEGOTIATIONS

The Council reserves the right to hold negotiations with the bidders in accordance with Article 20 of Rule 1395.

G.    DOCUMENTS TO BE PROVIDED

Ø  One completed and signed copy of the Act of Engagement;[6]

Ø  A list of all owners and executive officers, for legal persons only;

Ø  Registration documents, for legal persons only;

Ø  All the documents listed above, under Section E, necessary for the assessment of the bid under the eligibility and award criteria:

o    A detailed CV, preferably in Europass Format, demonstrating clearly that the Tenderer fulfils the eligibility criteria (4 pages maximum);

o    Portfolio or at least 2 examples of previous work, demonstrating relevant experience in proofreading and editing texts in Ukrainian. Provided samples should have an indication of name and surname of a Tenderer who applies;

o    A list of 3 (three) referees' contact details (name, surname, job title, phone number, email);

o    Proof of language proficiency in Ukrainian (C2 level or equivalent), if not clearly evidenced in the CV or education;

o    A cover letter.

All documents shall be submitted in English, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of the tender. If any of the documents listed above are missing, the Council of Europe reserves the right to reject the tender.

Please, use the following structure to name the files: Name/Surname_Document,

where:

·         Name/Surname is the Name of a legal entity or the Surname of a person, who applies

·         Document is the type of documents (the list of documents is above)

If any of the documents listed above are missing, the Council of Europe reserves the right to reject the tender.

Documents may be submitted via file sharing services such as WeTransfer, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.). In this case, the link must mandatorily remain active for at least 30 days after the deadline for the submission of the bids. Failure to ensure this may lead to the bid being excluded from the procurement procedure.

The Council reserves the right to reject a tender if the scanned documents are of such a quality that the documents cannot be read.

By submitting an offer in the framework of the present procedure, the Tenderers acknowledge that the persons involved in the implementation of the contract will be exposed to an increased risk of death and injury due to the ongoing war against Ukraine. The Tenderers also acknowledge that, if selected, they will carry out the implementation of the contract at their own risk.

The Tenderers confirm in addition that, if selected, they will perform systematic security assessments before implementing any activity related to the implementation of the contract. The Tenderers acknowledge that the Council of Europe does not assume any liability for the death, any injury or any damage that the Provider or persons involved in in the implementation of the contract may sustain in Ukraine.

* * *



[1] The activities of the Council of Europe are governed by its Statute and its internal Regulations. Procurement is governed by the Financial Regulations of the Organisation and by Rule 1395 of 20 June 2019 on the procurement procedures of the Council of Europe.

[2] It must strictly respect the fees indicated in the Act of Engagement. In case of non-compliance with these fees, the Council of Europe reserves the right to terminate the Contract with the Provider, in all or in part.

[3] The Council of Europe reserves the right to ask tenderers, at a later stage, to supply the following supporting documents:

-   An extract from the record of convictions or failing that an equivalent document issued by the competent judicial or administrative authority of the country of incorporation, indicating that the first three and sixth above listed exclusion criteria are met;

-   A certificate issued by the competent authority of the country of incorporation indicating that the fourth criterion is met;

-   For legal persons, an extract from the companies register or other official document proving ownership and control of the Tenderer;

-   For natural persons (including owners and executive officers of legal persons), a scanned copy of a valid photographic proof of identity (e.g. passport).

[4] If awarded a contract, legal persons undertake to entrust the execution of order forms only to the persons approved by the Council for inclusion in the contract. If, during the period of validity of the contract, it becomes necessary to replace one or more of the persons included in the contract, the legal persons undertake to assign to the contract only persons who satisfy the eligibility criteria above and to inform the Council without delay.

[5] If awarded a contract, consortium members who are legal persons undertake to entrust the execution of order forms only to the persons approved by the Council for inclusion in the contract. If, during the period of validity of the contract, it becomes necessary to replace one or more of the persons included in the contract, consortium members who are legal persons undertake to assign to the contract only persons who satisfy the eligibility criteria above and to inform the Council without delay.

[6] The Act of Engagement must be completed, signed and scanned in its entirety (i.e. including all the pages). The scanned Act of Engagement may be sent page by page (attached to a single email) or as a compiled document, although a compiled document would be preferred. For all scanned documents, .pdf files are preferred.